Tactics to prevent tick troubles this summer

Q. I live in a wooded area where my children play often. Should I be worried about ticks?

Q. I live in a wooded area where my children play often. Should I be worried about ticks?

A. This is a great question and the perfect time of year to be asking it. Ticks are tiny arachnids that live on the blood of other mammals and attach to the skin. Long grass and wooded areas are the places they frequent most during warmer months, so please be careful before sending your children out to play.

The first action you can take: Make sure your kids aren't headed into the deep woods. Have them stay on the driveway, the side of the street (away from the cars, of course) or on the porch/patio. Ticks hang off the sides of grass just waiting to attach to a body, so the less grass, the less chance they have of getting bitten.

Check your children thoroughly when they return from playing. Inspect their legs, scalp, neck, under the arms, in and around the ears, bellybutton, and any place where their skin was exposed. Also, have your children shower or bathe as soon as possible after coming indoors. This will wash off any ticks that could be crawling on them. Put their clothes immediately in the dryer on high heat for an hour to kill any remaining ticks.

To repel ticks while they are outside, use products that contain 20 percent or more DEET and use on exposed skin. This will last several hours.

If you are headed for an activity that you know will involve woods, such as hiking or picking berries, wear long clothing such as jeans and long-sleeved shirts. You can also use DEET products on your clothing or buy pre-treated clothing.

The most common misconception about ticks is that you will get Lyme disease if you're bitten by one. Although you run the risk of getting Lyme disease, it isn't immediate and it depends on the region, the type of tick and the amount of time the tick has been attached to the skin. You have 36 hours before transmission of Lyme disease (if you've been bitten by a deer tick). Deer ticks are brown and the size of a poppy seed and are prevalent in the Pocono area.

If you find a tick attached to yourself or your child:

Using fine tweezers or tick tweezers, pinch the tick as close to the skin surface as possible. Pull back gently and evenly. Don't twist or rip. Be careful not to squeeze or crush the tick, as it may have infectious fluids inside its body. Once removed, wash skin and hands thoroughly with soap and water and apply antibiotic cream if skin is irritated. If the head of the tick is still in the skin, leave it there. It will be expelled on its own. Check for redness, itchiness and a spread of a rash within one to four weeks. This could be a sign of Lyme disease and you should see your doctor immediately. He/she will give you antibiotics.

At PMC's Immediate Care Centers, we remove the tick and send it for testing to make sure Lyme disease isn't present.

Although this sounds alarming, don't panic. Your children can still play outside. Just take precaution before and after they play and monitor their skin.

Denise Bond, CRNP, is certified by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. She practices at PMC Immediate Care Center in Bartonsville and Tobyhanna.

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